How to Avoid Forever Chemicals and Advocate for Remediation

Chemicals can affect us even if we're not the ones using them.

By Kashava Holt
Updated on October 18, 2023
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by Adobestock/Tomasz
Chemical drift damage on crop soil.

Learn what you need to know about PFAS, how to avoid forever chemicals, and what you can do to advocate for remediation. 

In most life sectors – as homeowners, gardeners, farmers, and ranchers – we use chemicals in some way. Chemical drift (also known as “spray drift”) is the movement of chemicals off the intended target. Despite accurate application, chemical spray drift can’t always be repressed or wholly managed. Chemical droplets can remain suspended in the air and be carried by wind speeds as low as 10 mph away from the targeted area. Recently, there have been numerous cases worldwide of birds falling out of the sky, and some believe it’s due to the chemical drift pollution in our atmosphere.

This article will briefly cover some of the effects compound chemicals cause by drifting into our air, sediments, soil, and water from their various usages in our ecosystems.

Impacts of Chemical Drift in Our Watersheds

The U.S. Geological Survey states, “A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel.” Water travels over surfaces, across farm fields and city streets, or it’s absorbed into the soil and travels as groundwater, eventually emptying into an ocean. Large watersheds include the Chesapeake Bay, the Mississippi River, and the Columbia River.

A man in a protective suit conducts chemical and sanitary treatm
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